


PTSD

by TheRealUnderoos



Series: Short Stories [2]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Anti-Firework, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Depression, Flashbacks, Graphic Description, Heavy Angst, Implied Relationships, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nurse!Mark, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-War, Veterans, Vietnam War, War, soldier!Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 16:35:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17728862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRealUnderoos/pseuds/TheRealUnderoos
Summary: Please, reconsider using fireworks, as you never know who has PTSD.Suffering from it myself, for reasons that are classified, Fourth of July has always been rough, spent trying to block out fireworks with music or spending the night in my small closet, trying to hide from it all. I hope this brings some light onto the situations.





	PTSD

**Author's Note:**

> Please, reconsider using fireworks, as you never know who has PTSD.  
> Suffering from it myself, for reasons that are classified, Fourth of July has always been rough, spent trying to block out fireworks with music or spending the night in my small closet, trying to hide from it all. I hope this brings some light onto the situations.

Fourth Of July...

I hate Forth of July

I hadn't realized what day it was and I was on the couch of me and my boyfriend's room, curled up in a blanket as I watched the TV, a special marathon of Charlie Brown was on so I, of course, had to watch it. Although, I don't know where Mark had gone off to, he had said that he was going outside to look at some things.. I don't remember what he was looking at so I waited patiently for him to return. I figured that it was just Chica doing something absolutely ridiculous, as she does almost every night, like yesterday when she decided that our fence was apparently a fantastic chew toy. I remember Mark laughing as he recorded Chica's attempts to bite and gnaw at it the hard metal, my giggles could be heard as well as I watched from behin-

_Crack_

_silence.._

I thought nothing of it, it must've been the neighbour's kids once again playing with those inferna-

_**BOOM  
** _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_**BOOM** _

I jumped as I my head snapped towards what sound had been made, the explosion of a near-by bomb, being loud, almost deafening. It had exploded not to far from my patrol group as I could see the crater it had made in the ground, trees around it being aflame from the heat it had created. I almost immediately ran away from it after the shock of having a bomb land so close to my position, holding my gun in a way so I could fire at the enemy that had surprised us with an unexpected attack. We had only packed a small amount of things for a short patrol, like a small portion of food, little ammo, and a few other things. I dove behind one of the boulders that scattered the jungle, my breath being heavy and laboured as I had sprinted from quite the distance. Besides me was Felix, a friend that I had made at the main base after I had first arrived. He had shown me around and we had talked, becoming quite close pretty fast. It wasn't a surprise that we were already the best of friends at the base, everyone knew that we would always fight together.

I quickly looked around the edge of our cover and spotted a few of the other members of our patrol, somewhat safe behind logs and various other means of cover, one of them had dove into the river, aiming his gun in the direction of the attack. It was deathly silent, making an ocean of unease surround me as we all waited for the next move.

"I saw you coming over here, since I was close, I decided to join you." Felix said to me in a whisper so quiet that most of it was understood by lip reading, which was a good thing as a single sound or someone going out of cover could cause a battle.

"Well, I'm glad yeh decided ta come ta me rescue, 'cause I'm freaked as fuck." I whispered in the exact same volume as my best friend as I looked over to him with a slight smile, indicating that I was joking around to make the situation feel better which I did quite often.

We continued our quiet conversations when we could both tell that the other was honestly panicking on the inside from the unsettling situation. Soon, Felix bit his lip and looked around to the other members, making a signal that he was going to look and see if the coast was clear for them to continue. I urged him to stay down until we're sure about the situation but he didn't listen, saying that it had been silent and quiet for long enough, that they would be gone.

He grabbed his gun and held it tightly before taking a deep breath, holding it in before he slowly rose from his seat on the ground to look over the top of the rock. He sighed after he peaked over and adjusted himself before he stood and looked around. "Guys its all cl-"

I heard the crack of a gun as I watched probably the closest friend I will ever have get shot in the back of the head, his body immediately going limp and falling to the ground. Tears made it to my eyes as blood splattered onto me, the blood of practical family pooled on the ground and made it to my boots. I began to hyperventilate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I snapped out of it, beginning to hyperventilate as I shot up from my curled position on the couch. My head darted around the room franticly in a panic as I had heard the sound of a grenade. After observation I immediately jumped off of the couch and darted to the closest room I could find, it being the bedroom which was on the smaller side. I went to the corner near my own side of it and sat with my back against it as I held my arms close to my chest as if I were holding my gun. I began to panic more as multiple loud bangs could be heard one after the other. I looked around for Mark, not seeing or hearing a single hint of him being in the house. I beg the lord that he is okay as I closed my eyes.

_**SHRIEK** _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A loud shriek could be heard as a man from our group fired a flare gun to signal our distress since we were loosing this battle. They kept coming, more and more and more as we kept fighting endlessly but it was harder without the help of Felix, being a month ago that he was shot. I kicked a recently landed grenade back at the enemy that was just the right distance away for the grenade to explode as it hit the ground. I felt triumphant.. but that was mere seconds before I felt an immense amount of pain hit my shoulder so harshly that I was sent falling back and onto the ground. I reached over and grabbed onto the recently created bullet wound that had made its home my shoulder, groaning out of pain and agony.

It wasn't long before I saw another grenade land mere feet from my body. My eyes widened before I rolled away the best and quickest I could, it exploding as my back faced it. Shrapnel decided to lodge itself into my leg and part of my back, causing my to yell out of pain and close my eyes tight as the sharp edges sliced through my flesh as if it were butter.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes squeezed shut even more as tears gathered at the edge of my eyes, ducking my head down and curling into a ball against the corner of the room. I could still feel the shrapnel that had dug its way into my body, being buried in it and covered with blood that began to drain out of the wounds. I could feel the warm substance trickle at first before it began to pour down my leg, back, and arm. My hand reached up to grasp onto the scar on my shoulder from the bullet that had pierced it viciously, ripping it and breaking the bone.

I heard the door open slowly and slightly but I didn't dare to open my eyes, no matter what it could be. I feared it. The door then shot open, making a loud squeak that made me flinch and finally allowed the tears to roll down my face. I could hear someone rushing towards me, their steps heavy and quick before they reached my spot in the room.

"Jack? Jack! Can you hear me, Jack!?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I laid there curling up out of pain, i was a goner for sure. My blood never slowed as it rushed out of the wounds that the grenade and bullet had caused. A bit of hope was struck into me as I heard the sound of a chopper closing in near my position, but it kept getting closer and closer before it landed on top of me, my hope getting destroyed as I knew that they never checked under the chopper. I had seen it with my own eyes before and i watched as a med crew completely looked over an injured woman that had been laying under the helicopter.

I could hear more soldiers rushing out of the large carrier before the med crew followed after, scattering to get to all of the other soldiers that were around where they had landed but not under it. I was going to die here because I had fallen where they would land.. No I can't die, I have my family, my dog, my friends. I screamed as loud as I could, crying as it brought pain to my bullet wound. I could feel the bullet still in my body as I shouted and pleaded for help, hoping someone would hear my cries.

Footsteps approached the chopper and I could hear someone getting on the ground to look under, finding me before they yelled for some help and tried to drag me out. But I kept crying and yelling out of pain, they must've assumed that I had gone deaf so they shouted. "Jack! Jack! Can you hear me, Jack!?"

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My head shot up at the sound of his voice, my eyes opening as I did so. Mark had a panicked look as his hands reached out and pulled me into his hold immediately, seeing that I was shaken up and terrified. I clung to his body out of fear as I kept crying my eyes out, my body beginning to shake from it as my body twitched with the hiccups. However, Mark's arms stayed around my small and skinny frame tightly and securely, rocking me and him back and forth slowly as he tried to calm me down. He began to play with my hair which caused my hiccupping to end.

"Don't worry, you're going to be okay.."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I looked over to the man who was rushing me into the infirmary as he spoke those words, it was nearly empty as it was a completely separate one, the other being full. His hair was pitch black and his skin was a beautiful tan, I could've sworn I had died and he was an angel but soon I was lifted off of the stretcher and placed onto the bed. The man rushed around to get supplies as my eyelids hung low, watching him work on my wounds before my eyes shot open wide before closing shut tightly as he began to dig out the bullet in my shoulder. I yelled out of pain and my back arched and attempted to go in another direction but another person held me down as I kept yelling out of pain before the man dug out the bullet.

He immediately dressed the wound and moved on to my back, ordering the others to flip me over which only caused me more pain but it was nothing compared to the pain that pierced my back wound, being so immense that it caused me to pass out, while I yelled at him to knock it the fuck off.

 

I woke up, groaning softly before I looked around the infirmary that I had been transported into what seemed to be a few days ago. I spotted my bandages and sighed softly, glad that they had been covered and I was not dying. I continued to let my gaze wonder until my eyes locked on the man who had helped me, he was checking my bandages by the looks of it and writing down my condition. I spoke up, being oddly confident enough to actually start a conversation. "Ahm, excuse me, what's yer name?"

That's all it took before me and Mark began to talk every day that I was in the infirmary, always finding something new to talk about and laugh at. He made life like this fun and happy, making me forget the battlefield and the bloodshed that I had witnessed and caused. He would always keep me company and make sure that I was okay, physically and mentally. One day I got a letter, saying that I was being honourably discharged due to injuries and I was nominated for a metal of honour for risking my life to protect my group among other soldiers. But something kept nagging at me, making me obviously upset as i couldn't hide that at was well enough to be believable.

"Jack, is something wrong?" The man I had grown quite fond of asked.

"Ahm, yeah.. I need yeh ta promise me somethin'.." I spoke quietly as i fiddled with one of the bandages on my body, which Mark stopped me from doing.

"What would that be?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Promise yer never gunna leave me.. I need an' love yeh so much.." I choked out as tears streamed down my face, burying it into the shirt of the one I had fallen in love with years ago.

"I'd never leave you, I care about you too much to even think of that. I love you and nothing will ever change that, not even this little bump." Mark's words were sweet and gentle as he lifted my head from his shirt, kissing me gently.

My tears slowly stopped as I kissed him back, pulling away after a bit so I could cuddle into him. "I-I love yeh too.."

 

 

_**BOOM** _

**Author's Note:**

> Please, reconsider using fireworks, as you never know who has PTSD.  
> Suffering from it myself, for reasons that are classified, Fourth of July has always been rough, spent trying to block out fireworks with music or spending the night in my small closet, trying to hide from it all. I hope this brings some light onto the situations.


End file.
